Chat Roulette

An amusing analysis of a hot new internet fad that randomly connects strangers via webcam. (Warning: Not recommended for kids!)

As its name suggests, Chatroulette is similar to Russian Roulette in that you never know what’s going to happen next. Or in this case, what you might see next.

Chatroulette is a wildly popular new web phenomenon in which software enables you to connect randomly with strangers via video chat. Who will you see next on your computer screen? An attractive female? Highly unlikely. Males in their 20s? Quite likely. All ages of male perverts? Pretty good chance if you stay on for more than a few minutes.

Using an unconventional approach to storytelling, Casey Neistat takes us on a tongue-in-cheek journey into the world of Chatroulette, “scientifically” gathering and analyzing data as he goes. Over the course of several hours, Neistat tracks interactions with 90 people and even manages to interview a couple of them for this story.

His humorous results reveal the vast majority of users to be young males hoping to find a woman to talk to. Of those, he finds that about 15 percent are doing something indecent for their webcam audience. Only about 15 percent of overall users he encounters are women.

“The majority of my time on Chatroulette is spent having people choose not to talk to me,” says Neistat. But when he brings in an attractive female friend, the table turns.